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Philip Rambow

Biography
by Steve Huey

After the dissolution of British pub-rockers the Winkies, leader Philip Rambow embarked on a brief solo career that never quite fulfilled the potential many observers felt he possessed. The Canadian-born…Read Full Biography

Artist Biography
by Steve Huey

After the dissolution of British pub-rockers the Winkies, leader Philip Rambow embarked on a brief solo career that never quite fulfilled the potential many observers felt he possessed. The Canadian-born Rambow had previously played in a New York band called Saturday Night before emigrating to England and forming the Winkies in 1973. Their music was basic, Stonesy pub rock, but their outlandish glam rock stage costumes set them apart from the rest of the scene, and caught the attention of Brian Eno, who was then just leaving Roxy Music. Eno brought the Winkies on tour as his backing band in early 1974, and although the tour was cut short by Eno's collapsed lung, it landed the Winkies a major label shot with Chrysalis. Their only album appeared in 1975, but flopped, causing the group to disband by the end of the year. Rambow returned to New York and spent some time as a minor figure on the city's emerging punk scene; he contributed his own "Night Out" to the Max's Kansas City 1976 sampler, and covered Darlene Love's "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts?" for the punk Phil Spector tribute album Bionic Gold.